Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

Carbon Taxes And Economic Inequality, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Is Climate Change A National Emergency?, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

The next decade is critical for climate action. As sea levels rise, wildfires rage, and disasters increase in frequency and scale, it is clear that the U.S. must leverage an expanding menu of legal, policy, and technological tools to address climate change’s destabilizing effects. At present, we remain off-track to reduce our collective greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions and avoid irreversible, catastrophic harm. The emissions gap — the difference between the world’s current emissions trajectory and what we must emit to avoid climate change’s most severe consequences — continues to grow. Although President Biden and the 117th congressional leadership have pledged …

Shifting Public Perception: Climate Change Means Living With Fire And Smoke, Robert Froembling

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The urgency to prepare for the climate crisis has never been greater. We are currently living in the sixth mass extinction and the effects are only going to accelerate. We will inherit more wildfires, larger wildfires, and more frequent wildfires.

This piece is not meant to stoke fear in its readers or be depressing, but to shift public perception on what our future holds by evaluating the laws and science presented to us. This piece will look at regional and federal regulations and assess the increased rate of forest fires and the grave public health concerns from stagnant smoke specifically …

Natural Gas Infrastructure: Locking In Emissions?, Sam Kalen, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Carbon Market Opportunities In Virginia: Eelgrass, Marshes, Soils, And Forests, Imani Y. Price

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Carbon sequestration is the storage and capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Preserving carbon sequestering sources helps mitigate climate change. Eelgrass, marshes, soils, and forests all sequester carbon. Unfortunately, they are vulnerable to climate change and human development. This paper examines how these sources of carbon sequestration can be incorporated into Virginia’s climate change policies, including the creation of a carbon market. Among other aims, a carbon market would incentivize the preservation and restoration of these species, providing important environmental and economic benefits. The first section of this paper identifies several sources of carbon sequestration, as well as their …

On Environmental Law, Climate Change, And National Security Law, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

This Article offers a new way to think about climate change. Two new climate change assessments—the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment (“NCA”) and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Climate Change— prominently highlight climate change’s multifaceted national security risks. Indeed, not only is climate change an environmental problem, it also accelerates existing national security threats, acting as both a “threat accelerant” and “catalyst for conflict.” Further, climate change increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events while threatening nations’ territorial integrity and sovereignty through rising sea levels. It causes both internal displacement within nations …

Texas Landfills: The Need For Administrative Reform Of The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality’S Permitting Process, William Todd Keller Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Eelgrass In Virginia: Assessing Opportunities And Obstacles For Blue Carbon Credits, Michael Jordan, Imani Price

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This Paper seeks to explore a few of the questions that eelgrass restoration project proponents will need to consider prior to participating in a voluntary carbon credit market, like the VCS [Verified Carbon Standard]. Part I of this Paper explores whether the Commonwealth of Virginia could participate as a project proponent in a voluntary carbon credit market, and then analyzes both constitutional limitations and statutory limitations on the current state agency charged with overseeing the state-owned bottomlands—the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). It also explores a few possible solutions to constitutional and statutory issues. Assuming that the eelgrass restoration activities …

Are Firm Emissions Data Likely To Be Accurate Under Carbon-Dioxide Cap & Trade Programs? An Economic Analysis, Kyle Beck

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Numerous policy makers around the world have implemented carbon dioxide (CO2) cap and trade programs in an effort to combat global climate change. However, under this policy option emitters face incentives to both overstate prior emission levels and then exaggerate emissions reductions induced by regulation. I first build a simple conceptual model which demonstrates these incentives for fraud, and then outline institutional conditions which could plausibly enhance, or else reduce, firm incentives to disseminate erroneous emissions data under this policy option. Next I analyze real world evidence suggesting that duplicitous emissions data, particularly for the pre-regulatory period, is a serious …

Beneficial Use Of Dredged Material: Role Of State Permitting Programs And Regulations, Samantha Becker, Sashenka Brauer

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Beneficial use projects that utilize dredged material will involve several steps: dredging operations, storage of the dredged material, and placement of the dredged material for shoreline resiliency or restoration purposes. Each of these steps implicate different state permitting programs and regulations. Determining which permit programs are applicable will depend on the activity’s impact on the surrounding environment, based on factors such as water quality, and land erosion and degradation. This paper will focus primarily on three questions:

1. Which Virginia permitting programs may apply to the storage of dredged material on an upland site?

2. Which Virginia permitting programs may apply to …

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Dredged Material Ownership: Rights And Reuse, John Bobka, Beth Pindilli

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This research paper explores ownership rights at sites with material from completed dredging projects, supplying a general overview of this issue. This paper also explores the question of whether quality dredged material stored on a publicly-owned upland site can be used later for other applications.

This abstract has been taken from Section I of the report.

The Case For A Mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standard In Virginia: A Case Study Examining Virginia’S Potential For A Mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standard By Comparing Virginia To Maryland And North Carolina, Rebecca Wescott

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Since the early 1980s, states have utilized Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (“RPSs”) as policy mechanisms to “promote broader investment in renewable energy without requiring passage of a comprehensive energy policy measure that includes a pricing mechanism for carbon.” RPS policies can be drafted in one of two ways: (1) as a mandatory RPS, a legal mandate on what percentage of a state’s power portfolio must come from specific eligible renewable energy sources by a specific date in the future, or (2) as a non-binding or voluntary RPS, a policy goal that recommends that a certain percentage of a state’s power …

Overcoming Impediments To Shellfish Aquaculture Through Legal Research And Outreach: Case Studies, National Sea Grant College Program, Catherine Janasie, Amanda Nichols, Read Porter, Mitchell Ramic, Jordan Viana, Joseph Bingaman, Elizabeth Andrews, Angela King, Danielle Goshen, Shana Jones, Lisa Schiavinato, Catherine Courtier, Danielle Goshen

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

More than half of the population of the continental United States resides in coastal communities, which are increasingly home to commercial shellfish aquaculture operations. Consequently, a variety of user conflicts can arise as states seek to encourage the development or expansion of shellfish aquaculture. Each of these conflicts creates the potential for opposition and legal challenges to the industry.

An understanding of the legal and regulatory context governing shellfish aquaculture can assist in managing conflicts related to the industry. Laws and regulations in some cases create or can be perceived as impediments to the growth or success of the aquaculture …

Distributed Renewable Energy, K.K. Duvivier

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

For individuals, the heating and cooling of buildings is the second largest source of U.S. CO2 emissions after transportation. This chapter suggests pathways to help deploy the two most promising categories of U.S. distrib­uted renewable energy resources to reduce these emissions—photovoltaic solar matched with storage and ther­mal sources for hot water and for heating and cooling buildings. Distributed generation is probably the energy source most impacted by different levels of government and nongovernmental actors. However, distributed generation is also most immediate to consumers, especially with new technologies or rate structures that give them feedback about their own individual generation and …

Island Invasion: The Silent Crisis In Hawaii, Sophia Janssen

Pomona Senior Theses

Keeping out invasive species may, upon first review, seem like a trivial environmental cry from ecologists and deep environmentalists; a belated wish to return to an undeveloped world where nature was pristine. However invasive species create problems that impact all of us and can have far more severe consequences than changing a stunning landscape. These problems are heightened in islands like Hawaii, where the fragile ecosystems have developed over centuries of evolution and adaptation. The introduction of a disease-carrying mosquito can put the people of Hawaii at risk to many vector-born illnesses and create an epidemic, taking human life. The …

Using Renewable Portfolio Standards To Accelerate Development Of Negative Emissions Technologies, Anthony E. Chavez

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As society continues to emit greenhouse gases, the likelihood of dangerous climate change occurring increases. Indeed, most analyses project that we must utilize negative emission technologies (“NETs”) to avoid dangerous warming. Even the Paris Agreement anticipates the implementation of such carbon dioxide (“CO₂”) removal technologies. Unfortunately, NETs are not ready for large-scale deployment. In many instances, their technologies remain uncertain; in others, their ability to operate at the scale required is unknown. Other uncertainties, including their costs, effectiveness, and environmental impacts have yet to be determined.

A means to accelerate the development and implementation of NETs is a …

Environmental Governance And The Global South, Jeffrey J. Minneti

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Over the last several decades, efforts to regulate the environment through traditional public law at national and international levels have stalled. In contrast, private environmental governance has flourished as nongovernmental entities have engaged in standard setting and assessment practices traditionally left to public government. This Article observes that while private governance of producers’ environmental product claims has grown tremendously in recent years, the vast majority of the governance originates in the global North and thrusts the global North’s economic and environmental agenda into the global South. In light of recent empirical studies of the effectiveness of such governance, the Article …

Regulatory Obsolescence Through Technological Change In Oil And Gas Extraction, Timothy Fitzgerald

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Extraction of oil and gas from unconventional resources, recently enabled by technological innovations, revolutionized national and global markets. However, exploration and production still proceed under legacy regulations, mostly promulgated at the state level. The mismatch of modern production realities and historic regulatory structures creates opportunities for reducing conflicts that diminish economic value. This Article identifies regulations that originated under conventional extraction, and often enhance productivity in that setting, but create waste when applied to unconventional resources. Then, it identifies contractual solutions that have evolved as resource owners and extraction firms have adapted to new technologies. Contractual innovations help inform directions …

When The Well Runs Dry: Why Water-Rich States Need To Prepare For Climate Change And Protect Their Groundwater, Danielle Takacs

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

It may seem surprising to see such concern over groundwater usage in a state like Wisconsin. While known for its dairy and cheese production, Wisconsin is first in the nation for producing snap beans and cranberries. Agriculture contributes $88.3 billion annually to Wisconsin’s economy alone. In addition to bordering two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, Wisconsin boasts that it is home to about 15,000 lakes. And this does not include the numerous rivers and streams throughout the state. These facts alone may make Wisconsin seem an unlikely place for disputes over groundwater, as water seems to …

An Examination Of The Need For Campaign Fianance Reform Through The Lens Of The United States Treaty Clause And Environmental Protection Treaties, Jordan Smith

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The United States’ federal election system is constantly the focus of debate, including components from voting mechanisms, to candidate selection, and to the candidates themselves. Unsurprisingly, campaign finance has also been the source of much debate. For decades, scholars, politicians, lawyers, and laypersons have debated the merits and shortcomings of the campaign finance system enumerated in the United States Code. The landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) decision in 2010, in which the United States Supreme Court equated corporate speech to human speech, merely added fuel to the fire. The considerable volume of scholarship based upon campaign finance …

The Waters Of Antarctica: Do They Belong To Some States, No States, Or All States?, Linda A. Malone

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Major issues and complexities arise when one is looking at the international puzzle that is Antarctica. Despite being uninhabited year round and lacking substantial long-term international law rules for sovereignty, states still try to claim their sovereignty over various parts of Antarctica. The consortium of states under the Antarctica Treaty System (“ATS”) then further aggravates these complexities, especially when other states outside of the ATS have been arguing for different regimes and approaches to dealing with Antarctica and resource exploitation. Due to these major issues and a desperate need for a resolution in times of global climate change, this Article …

There Has Never Been A 'Timber War', Greg King

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

There has never been a 'timber war' in northwestern California, but rather premeditated and ongoing attacks against the forests, and against the people who would protect them. This paper provides a historic examination of redwood logging and protection efforts since 1850.

The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act: Proposed Modifications To Improve Resilience To Sea Level Rise, Christopher Antoine

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

There are a number of ways to increase resiliency to sea level rise, and localities should consider all of the potential methods available to them, as not all methods are feasible in every locality. This paper will examine how the CBPA [Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, the "Act"] currently works to protect water quality and its current capability to help localities improve resilience. It will also consider some potential changes to the CBPA and other programs that may increase the Act’s ability to promote community resilience to sea level rise through rational development while maintaining the water quality benefits that the …

“Either Secrecy, Or Legal Monopoly”: Why We Should Choose Fracking Patents, Sarah Spencer

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Increasing Living Shoreline Implementation In Virginia: Legal And Policy Recommendations, Christopher Antoine

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

When living shorelines are correctly implemented, they can provide a number of benefits to landowners, localities, and the state. Based on that knowledge, in 2011, the Virginia General Assembly codified a preference for the use of living shorelines in tidal shoreline stabilization projects to facilitate a greater realization of those benefits. Despite the statutory preference, much of Virginia’s tidal shoreline may not be realizing the benefits associated with living shorelines. A recent report from the Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science indicated that, in a sample of coastal Virginia localities from 2014-2016, as …

Whose Lands? Which Public?: The Shape Of Public-Lands Law And Trump's National Monument Proclamations, Jedediah Britton-Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

President Trump issued a proclamation in December 2017 purporting to remove two million acres in southern Utah from national monument status, radically shrinking the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument and splitting the Bears Ears National Monument into two residual protected areas. Whether the President has the power to revise or revoke existing monuments under the Antiquities Act, which creates the national monument system, is a new question of law for a 112-year-old statute that has been used by Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama to protect roughly fifteen million acres of federal land and hundreds of millions of marine acres. …

Encounters With Climate Change: How Sdg 13 Can Move From Awareness To Action, Rebecca C. Potter

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In a well-known passage from his book I and Thou, Martin Buber relates his encounter with a tree: “I contemplate a tree,” he writes, and then lists the various ways he could perceive the tree, as an artist or biologist, as someone interested in the trees parts and construction or interested in its function as a living system. But in all cases, Buber observes, “the tree remains my object and has its place and its time span, its kind and condition.”

Yet sometimes, “if will and grace are conjoined,” Buber describes being drawn into a relation with the tree wherein …

Democratic Civic Engagement: Transformative Local, Inclusive Decision-Making To Achieve Global Peace And Climate Solutions, Leah Ceperley

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The UN Sustainable Development Goals call for action on Climate (No. 13) and Strengthening Governance (No. 16) as imperative to transform our world toward one that is resilient, just, and peaceful. Climate change is a global problem, marked frequently in the U.S. by indifference, with far-reaching impacts disproportionately burdening the poor and vulnerable worldwide. Global in scope, its sources, impacts, and fields of action are local. Combating indifference at the local level can strengthen local governance structures, build trust across ideological divides, and shift the conversation from indifference to action.

Using an example from a University of Dayton-sponsored National Issues …

Getches-Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Fall 2017, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

Community Management And Governance Of Comatsa-Sud New Protected Area (Ambalamanasy Ii Commune), Allison Tennant

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community-based natural resource management is an increasingly more popular choice for governments to delegate power back to local communities to conserve the resources they rely on. In Madagascar, where much of the rural population provides for their livelihoods by using natural resources, this governance structure, in cooperation with delegated manager for assistance, presents an opportunity for economic development in cooperation with conservation efforts. This paper aims to better understand the role of community, NGO, and governmental actors in creating and executing community management structures. Through Participatory Rural Analysis and structured and semi-structured interviews, it explores what management transfers look like …